Roses have been associated with romance for centuries, from the symbol of Aphrodite to the coy language of flowers in the Victorian era. A commonly found pairing in Middle Eastern cooking is cardamom, where it’s deep spice plays a perfect foil to the light floral notes of rose - and it adds an amazing depth to this delicate almond cake!

We think this recipe would work perfectly with the rose botanicals in our February 2020 gin of the month, GŴYR Rhamanta. Serve this up as an ultimate declaration of love!

Gin-drenched Rose & Cardamom Cake

Ingredients

For the cake
150g butter
200g sugar
3 eggs
2 tbsp rose water
1 tsp vanilla
Zest of 1 lemon
100g plain flour
200g almond flour
2 tsp ground cardamom pod seeds
½ tsp ground nutmeg
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
120ml milk

For the drizzle
1 tsp rose water
100g sugar
75ml gin

For the glaze
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp milk
150g icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180c and grease a 20cm cake pan. Beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, then slowly beat in the eggs one by one until the mixture is smooth.

Gently mix in the rose water, vanilla and lemon zest. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, ground almond, cardamom, nutmeg, salt and baking powder.

Slowly incorporate the dry mixture and the milk into the batter, alternating between the two. Transfer to your greased cake pan and cook for 40-50 minutes, until the top is a golden brown and a skewer comes out clean.

To make the drizzle, gently heat 50ml of the gin, the rose water and sugar in a saucepan until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining gin.

Score the cake with a skewer and pour the drizzle over the warm cake. Leave to cool, then transfer to a wire rack.

Mix together the lemon juice and icing sugar, then slowly add as much milk as needed to form a thick glaze. Pour across the top of the cooled cake. Decorate with dried rose petals and chopped pistachios.

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